The National Flower of Scotland

Its suddenly spring in Scotland, which means the weather is nice! Yesterday it was 18 degrees (Celsius) and sunny. That's downright tropical for us. People were walking around town in shorts, sunglasses, impossibly short skirts and tops so revealing it would make Hugh Hefner blush. I'm not kidding, I once saw a woman walking down the street in just her bra. Its a fact that the Scots kinda lose their minds (and clothes) when the sun comes out. You can't blame them for it though, here you need to take any opportunity you can get! The sun isn't out in force like that everyday here.

Anyway, back to spring.. Its spring and that means flowers are blooming! Currently my facebook (yuck!) feed is exploding with pictures of daffodils. They are the most common flower that blooms in Edinburgh in the spring. So naturally I went out to photograph something else. I often try to be different like that... when everyone started instagramming pics of their food, I started instagramming pictures of empty plates.. after I had eaten..So instead of photographing daffodils I photographed the Thistle. Scotland's national flower..

Its an interesting plant.. prickly, abrasive and a bit aggressive.. much like the weather! So a good choice as the nation's floral representative.

I took these shots with a 70 - 200 mm 2.8 lens. I wanted to try up close photography using a telephoto lens, mainly because the majority of my shots are done with a wide angle. Sometimes its good to change up your gear so that you have to approach and think a little differently about what you are doing. Its a good way to learn and begin to develop your own style.